Baby/Toddler Story Time, 4/5

I had a lot of transportation books hanging around my desk this week, so I combined them into a themed story time. Both sessions were identical with the exception of one song. Session one had about 20 children, and session two had 32.

Opening song: Hello song
For the verses, we clapped our hands, tapped our heads, and wiggled our fingers.

Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Song: Drive, Drive, Drive Your Car (session 1); If You'd Like to Read a Book (session 2)

Book: The Bus for Us by Suzanne Bloom

The text on every page of this story is the same. A little girl named Tess asks, "Is this the bus for us, Gus?" The illustration shows just the bumper of a vehicle, and the audience has the chance to guess whether they think it's a bus or something else. After a taxi, a garbage truck, an ice cream truck, and various other vehicles pass by, the bus finally arrives and Gus says, "Let's go!" During the first session, there wasn't much of a reaction to this book, but the second group applauded when the bus arrived.

Song: There's a Little Wheel A-Turnin' in my Heart

Book: Trucks Go Pop by Bob Staake

This is a really short pop-up book with not many words, but it was neat and a great crowd-pleaser. Some of  the details - like the slow truck being labeled "molasses" and the "green" truck being used for recycling - would be better viewed up close, and only funny for the adults or older kids, but it's fun to share a pop-up book every now and then. I was very careful to hide it between sessions, and afterwards, though, because toddlers and pop-up books don't mix up close.

Song: Five in the Truck
This song was a bomb the first session, and a wonderful hit during the second. I brought out my stuffed hen both times, and that seemed to get the kids' attention, but I wish I'd had a truck or a feltboard to go with it. If I keep using this one, I'll have to make one.

Song: Old MacDonald Had a Farm

Book: Down by the Station by Jennifer Riggs Vetter, illustrated by Frank Remkiewicz

This book takes the traditional "Down by the Station" song and extrapolates it to include all other types of transportation, from buses, to trucks, to construction vehicles, to airplanes, and rockets. Animals take the place of people as drivers, passengers, and workers. I sang the entire book, and really enjoyed the positive reactions people had to it.  I would definitely do it again.

Song: I'm a Little Teapot

Song: One, Two, I Love You (Numbers Are Our Friends)

Book: Window Music by Anastasia Suen, illustrated by Wade Zahares

I never do 4 books, but this week we had the pop-up, and one book that was more like a song with pictures, so I went for broke. This book shows what a passenger on a train might see from her window, and also introduces some of the sounds associated with travel by train. One little girl in the first session loved it so much, she  repeated every line after me - for that alone, it was worth it. 

Song: Monkeys on the Bed

Closing song: Skinnamarink

Baby Lap Time, 4/1

I had never worked with babies at all before this job, so even though I have been doing this program for a month now, I still get pretty nervous beforehand. Previously, I was handing out song sheets and adhering pretty strictly to the order they were printed in, but this week, I changed things a little bit and used a format similar to my Baby/Toddler Story Time on Tuesday. It worked very, very well, and I felt a lot more at ease.

Opening song: If You're Happy and You Know It
This is a really great, upbeat version of this song, but our CD player started skipping so we had to ditch the recording halfway through and finish singing on our own. Thankfully, I remembered the last two verses - beep your nose, and shout hooray.

Book: Pots and Pans by Patricia Hubbell, illustrated by Diane DeGroat

I love Patricia Hubbell books for babies and toddlers, and this one is especially great because of all the wonderful crashing and banging sounds. The book is a lot more fun than listening to actual banging on pots and pans!






Song: Open, Shut Them

Open (hold up hands)
Shut them (close hands)
Open (hold up hands)
Shut them (close hands)
Give a little clap, clap, clap (clap three times)
Open (hold up hands)
Shut them (make two fists)
Open (hold up hands)
Shut them (make two fists)
Lay them in your lap, lap, lap (pat knees three times)
Creep them, creep them, (creep fingers up to your chin)
creep them, creep them
right up to your chin, chin, chin (tap chin)
Open wide your little mouth (open mouth)
But do not let them in (hide fingers behind back)

Song: Itsy Bitsy Spider

Rhyme: Here is the Beehive

Here is the beehive (make a fist)
Where are the bees?
Hidden away where nobody sees. (shake head)
Wait, and  you'll see them
Come out of  the hive
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (hold up one finger at a time)
Bzzzzz! (wiggle fingers and/or tickle baby)


Book: I'm a Baby, You're a Baby by Lisa Kopper

This book is older (1995) but was absolutely perfect for this group. The refrain "I'm a baby, you're a baby" repeats on every other page. Facing pages show various animal babies. We made the sounds for each animal, and every baby in the room was clearly engaged. 









Song: Old MacDonald Had a Farm (no CD, just me singing!)


Song: Where is Thumbkin?

Song: One, Two, I Love You (Numbers Are Our Friends)

Book: Sleepy, Oh So Sleepy by Denise Fleming

Different wild animal babies are oh so sleepy, but where is mommy's sleepy little baby? She's hiding at the end of the book, with a big yawn and a stuffed monkey. Some more really good repetition in this one, and beautiful, colorful illustrations that drew the kids right in. Some of  the moms got into it, too, and started to read the repeated parts along with me.






Song: I'm a Little Teapot

Song: Clap Along With Me


Song: Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes


Song: Tony Chestnut Knows I Love You
This is a song I've been wanting to do forever, and I finally got the guts today. Some of the moms said it was cute, so I think we'll probably do it again next time. 

(Point to each body part as it is said.)
Toe, knee, chest, nut
nose eye love you.
Toe knee nose.
Toe knee nose.
Toe, knee, chest, nut
nose eye love you.
That's what toe knee nose.


Song: ABC's
I have been looking for a good recording of  the alphabet song for a long time, but finally decided we'd just sing it all together. Next time, I might include ASL signs for the letters, if I get really brave.

Song: Goodbye

We wave goodbye like this.
We wave goodbye like this.
We clap our hands for all our friends.
We wave goodbye like this.

6 Baseball Books for Kids

• About the B'nai Bagels
  (Middle Grade)
  by E.L. Konigsburg
  Thirteen-year-old Mark Setzer is torn between family loyalty and team friendship when his mother and older brother team up to coach his little league team.
• The Batboy
  (Young Adult) 
  by Mike Lupica
  Brian faces disappointment when his job as batboy for the Detroit Tigers fails to endear him to his estranged father or his favorite player, who returns to the team after being suspended for steroid use with a major chip on his shoulder. 
• Play Ball, Amelia Bedelia
  (Easy Reader)
  by Peggy Parish
  Decked in a soldier's uniform, Amelia Bedelia reports to the baseball field, ready to play. Unfortunately, tagging, stealing bases, taking players out, and even catching the ball from behind the plate prove confusing for the muddled maid. A classic Amelia Bedelia story.
• The Littlest Leaguer
  (Easy Reader)
  by Syd Hoff
  Harold is very small, and fears he will spend the entire baseball season on the bench. But when the star player twists his ankle, the coach brings him in and he proves to himself - and to everyone else - that even the littlest leaguer can become a big star. 
• The Girl Who Threw Butterflies
  (Middle Grade)
  by Mick Cochrane
  Molly, whose father died six months ago in a car accident, has a great knuckleball. She joins the boys' baseball team in an effort to feel close to her father, and to make sense of his death. 
• The Toilet Paper Tigers (Middle Grade)
  by Gordon Korman
  A funny story about an unlikely baseball team with a clueless coach, whose 12-year-old granddaughter ends up taking over.

Baby/Toddler Story Time, 3/29

I don't do a theme every week, but the books I chose for this week all had to do with the concepts of Big and Little. Both sessions were exactly the same with the exception of one book.

Opening song: Hello song

Rhyme: This is big, big, big

This is big, big, big. (hold arms out wide)
This is small, small, small. (cup hands close together)
This is short, short, short. (hold hands close together, vertically)
This is tall, tall, tall. (spread hands apart vertically)
This is fast, fast, fast. (roll hands quickly)
This is slow, slow, slow. (roll hands slowly)
This is yes, yes, yes. (nod head yes)
This is no, no, no.  (shake head no)

Rhyme: Flowers Tall and Small

Flowers tall, (hold up three middle fingers)

flowers small, (hold up pinky and thumb)
in the springtime sun. (make a circle over your head)
Blowing gently in the breeze, (wiggle fingers)
count them one by one.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5. (point to each finger as you count)

Song: Monkeys on the Bed

Song: If You'd Like to Read a Book

Book: Go Away, Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley

A monster with yellow eyes, squiggly hair, and a blue-ish greenish nose appears, one facial feature at a time. Then, we tell the monster to go away, and his scary features disappear in reverse order, leaving him bald, earless, and eventually faceless. I debated whether I would scare the kids with this book.  I think only one child actually cried, in the first session - the others  really seemed to like it.





Flannel Board Song: Old MacDonald Had a Farm
Our version of  this song ends with an elephant. We made trunks with our arms and attempted to imitate an elephant sound. 

Flannel Board Rhyme: I Went to Visit the Farm One Day

I went to visit the farm one day. 

I saw the [cow] across  the way. (put cow on the flannel board)

And what do you think the [cow] did say?

[Moo, moo, moo.] (make a mooing sound)

(repeat with a variety of farm animals)

Rhyme with Paper Puppets: This Little Pig
I created five paper puppets using construction paper and clip art, and held them up as we said the rhyme. I expected the adults to be more familiar with the rhyme than they were. If we do it again in the future, I'll make sure to post up the words so the parents and nannies can say it along with me more easily.

Book: A Pig is Big by Douglas Florian

This book begins with a pig, and then continually questions what's bigger, until finally, we're looking at the whole universe. Some of the words are a little on the difficult side for little ones, but I emphasized the words they would know to help them figure out the overall idea of the story. They liked the early part of  the book, which was about a pig, a cow, and a car, and seemed to lose interest as things got more abstract.





Song: There's a Little Wheel A-Turnin' in my Heart

Song: I'm a Little Teapot

Book: When Stella Was Very, Very Small by Marie-Louise Gay (session 1)

This book shows us how the world looked to Stella when she was a baby, and how it looks different now that she is a big girl. I reviewed this book on my book blog, so I'd read it before, but I didn't really remember how poetic and abstract the text was until I was in the middle of the session. Some of the older kids liked it, but it wasn't as toddler-friendly as I thought.






The Little Red Hen by Byron Barton (session 2)

This brightly colored retelling of the well-known fairy tale has been a story time favorite here. The kids love hearing the animals say "Not I," and they really seem to gravitate toward the hen's three little chicks. And even though I chose it as a last-minute replacement, it still fit our theme!






Song: The Wheels on the Bus

Goodbye song: Skinnamarink